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Give a gold-digger a break

I didn't know Anna Nicole Smith, so I don't know why I should have felt disproportionately saddened on hearing that she had died last week, aged 39. Her claim to fame was that in 1994, when she was 26, she married an 89-year-old billionaire, J Howard Marshall.

He died 14 months later. She was initially awarded £240m, which was reduced to £45m after outraged protestations from Marshall's son. Eventually this was reduced to nothing at all; the case was still rumbling on at the time of her death.

I know we are not supposed to feel much admiration for 26-year-old bottle blondes who marry ancient millionaires, but I don't see what's so terribly wrong with it. If I'd been a dirt poor, child bride, chicken shack waitress from the wrong side of the tracks I could think of worse things to do with my time.